Jeff Goldhagen, M.D., is lead author of the policy statement on Health Equity and Children’s Rights that is in the April issue of Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Published statements become policy of the academy. Goldhagen, professor and chief of the Division of Community Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, UF College of Medicine-Jacksonville, said children’s health often has little to do with medical and biomedical issues. Many children in the country fail to reach their full health and developmental potential because of a complex set of social and environmental factors. According to the policy statement, eliminating health disparities would make a significant difference in the overall health of children and the adults they will become. The statement establishes four components of health equity for children: children’s rights, social justice, human capital investment and health-equity ethics. It maintains that children who experience multiple compounding risk factors, such as poverty, exposure to substance abuse, homelessness and lack of insurance, are most likely to have their rights ignored.
In 2006, Goldhagen and a handful of colleagues around the world founded SECH – Society for Equity in Child Health – a U.S.-based organization to advance the principles and practices of children’s rights, social justice and equity. During the past two years he has traveled to Canada, South Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Puerto Rico and throughout the U.S. to advocate and educate on behalf of children’s rights and equity.
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